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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Technology

Leave them hanging on the telephone

big silver robot toy on the phone standing on an old wooden floor toned image
One reader has a suggestion on how to deal with cold callers. Photograph: Charles Taylor/Alamy

Regarding dealing with cold callers (Adrian Chiles, 7 May), it’s irritating I know, but if you don’t mind your phone being inaccessible for a few minutes, why not say: “Hang on, I’ll go and get him/her”, and then leave your phone until the caller rings off? At least you will have wasted some of their day.
Robert Walker
Perrancoombe, Cornwall

• Re fostering a love of reading in children (Letters, 6 May), one of my fondest memories of my teaching career was story time in the infant class in a local village school. Most of the children came quite a distance on buses. They adored Michael Rosen’s poetry. There were many afternoons when it was home time and they would shout: “Please read another Michael Rosen one, Mrs Mansfield, the driver won’t mind waiting.” What a privilege to teach them.
Janet Mansfield
Aspatria, Cumbria

• Your article (How to create a more eco-friendly lawn, 6 May) advises us to reduce our environmental impact by swapping a petrol mower for an electric one. Better advice would be to choose a push mower – beneficial to the environment and the owner’s physical health.
Mike Davis
Weymouth, Dorset

• It didn’t take long for the “quick” beginners cryptic crossword to become fiendish. Please have mercy on us older learners who take longer to get up to speed.
Robert Kelso
Frome, Somerset

• Re digestives (Letters, 6 May), other biscuits are available.
Colin Prower
Chipping Norton, Oxfordshire

• Do you have a photograph you’d like to share with Guardian readers? If so, please click here to upload it. A selection will be published in our Readers’ best photographs galleries and in the print edition on Saturdays.

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